Instead it keeps limping along in unlikely incarnations as the Lakers make one more push for it before throwing in the towel and talking toAndrew Bynum about a max extension. Which is going to start happening soon. But they are making one more push.

Ric Bucher of ESPN has the latest rumor, which is really the same as an old rumor pulled out and thrown in the toaster oven, reheated for your consumption. And even he tells you maybe you don’t want to swallow this.

The Cleveland Cavaliers may have inched ahead of the Houston Rockets as a facilitator in a potential trade that would send Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers, sources said Wednesday. One source familiar with the talks, though, cautioned not to make too much of that shift just yet…

The Cavaliers would land Lakers center Andrew Bynum for a package of draft picks and veteran power forward Anderson Varejao, according to one league source. The Lakers would receive Howard for Bynum. Orlando would get Varejao and draft picks. The source said this was merely the framework of a deal being discussed.

And we’re back to the stumbling blocks. Who takes on Jason Richardson and his oversized contract? Bynum has listed Cleveland as one of the teams he would re-sign with — to make a very nice pick-and-roll combo with Kyrie Irving — but Cleveland will want a commitment not just pretty words. The Lakers reportedly will move ahead thinking they can win Howard over, commitment or not.

And since the Magic are going to flip Varejao in this scenario, those had better be some sweet draft picks and a whole lot of them.

Despite what Laker fans are trying to talk themselves into — and no doubt this would be a good trade for them, Howard is a considerable upgrade over Bynum — this is about as close to reality right now as my 8-year-old daughter swimming in the Olympics in eight years. (If you’re wondering how close that is, she has my genes and I’m a blogger.)

This trade makes less sense than any of its predecessors. The Nets trade sounded decent, and the Rockets deal was retardedly good for Orlando. I doubt the Cavaliers are going to want to give up too many young players or picks at this point since they are rebuilding themselves. I don’t see how this would work. Orlando would be getting a much worse deal here in my opinion than the Rockets deal…

If Orlando trades who I think is the 3rd best player in the NBA after Lebron and Durant for Anderson Varejo and some draft picks while helping make another eastern conference team better, they might as well just shut the franchise down.

After seeing Dwight saying “I’m not fully recovered yet; I can’t even run yet” on his Twitter, it would be stupid if Buss and Kupchak accepts this. Laker Nation thinks that Dwight will look great on the P&R with Nash, think again, the man can’t even run and the season starts in 3 months and some weeks. We Laker fans won’t get the Howard from 2010, it’ll be a lesser version of him. And I hope Bynum gets that extension and accepts it, I want Howard to get booed in Orlando for a whole season, he’s the dummy that signed the extension to stay for an extra year.

Considering I suffered the same injury as Howard (but I didn’t opt for surgery), he’s telling the truth. It takes at least a year to try and get your explosiveness to return to your back. And in those same tweets, Howard stated he went from nice guy to a–hole, which is true, we’re only hearing things from the Magic organization and the media, hardly from Howard’s mouth.

Andrew Bynum has concerns about signing an extension that will allow him to continue to live in southern California, but he is willing to sign one that will allow him to live in the vicinity of Cleveland Ohio?

The teams that Bynum stated he would sign with were the ones that had cap space. I think he was trying to pressure Lakers to keep him and make his trade value go down by stating he would not sign some places. I believe he would resign with Orlando before he would resign with Cleveland.

This is retarded. If the Magic take this deal after they balked at the Houston deal, there is no way I am ever going back to a Magic game ever again.

What front office would ever let this happen? You send your stars player basically straight to the NBA playoffs and most likely the finals, and you get what in return? Anderson Verajo? If were the DeVoss family i would pull the fast manuver of taking a pile of poo, putting it a brown paper bag, lighting it on fire, putting it on Mitch Kupchack’s front door step, ringing the door bell and running to the bushes to get a good laugh…

Richardson would be headed to Cleveland in this scenario. I doubt the Lakers would be getting much in the way of picks, they are getting by far the best player in the trade. They would be giving up Bynum to Cleveland as well as some picks. Orlando would be getting big time immediate cap relief and cash savings, and probably no less than 4 first rounders. Cleveland would be giving away all their cap space (overrated for them anyway) and getting Bynum (who will resign there) and having to take on JRich’s contract. Not a bad trade, not great either. If I am Orlando I want some more young talent, not just picks and cap. That said, they could probably spin Varejao off for a first and maybe a young player.

Diva’s past exploits and PR makes it very difficult to believe anything that comes out of his mouth….he’s wishy washy and two faced. Need proof? Just ask Stan Vangundy….or better yet, just replay the ESPN….”Stan just said you want him fired video….Diva,…stop tweeting and shut your mouth…you are no victim here.

A source tells me that a huge hang-up in the Dwight Howard to the Lakers deal is the insane insistence by Orlando’s GM that he can talk DH12 into staying. Howard already told him no…but he wants to be a hero…so he’s asking for crazy packages that no one is willing to pay. He thinks it will give them time to change Howard’s mind. Not going to happen…so make the deal Hennigan. Howard probably won’t sign a deal until next summer…but I think it’s worth the risk.

Kurt I want some of what you’re smoking! Dwightmare Coward an upgrade from Andrew Bynum? Get real dude, Coward always wimps out in the playoffs and is just a whining crybaby come time to renegotiate contracts. We don’t need that lame Diva in Lakerland, we already have enough drama. What the Lakers need even more is a real coach, time to dump Mike Clown Brown and get a real coach. Hey Jerry Sloan seems to have some free time, now that was the coach that cupcake should have brought in. Let the Cleveland Cadavers rest in peace, let them have the Diva from Orlando and who cares where the Diva ends up as long as it isn’t Lakerland.

Although has lost a ton “cool points” in the character department with me, I definitely agree with the Howard over Bynum statement. I’ve been a Lakers fan for as long as I can remember. I even suffered through the talented but sloppy team of the 90s. The Cedric Ceballos, Eddie Jones #25, Vlade Divac, Nick the Quick days. If you don’t think Howard is not an upgrade over Bynum (the Randy Moss of the NBA) then you’re obviously smoking something illegal or simply have a blind eye towards talent.

Pro basketball is not suffering from a lack of news worthy stories. The editors should make an attempt to offer more choices. It seems like every fourth story is about DH. For starters, how about giving some space to non-american pro ball. The number of players entering the NBA clearly shows that good ball is being played outside of the US. And women play professional basketball too.

Mitch doesn’t want to hear the question, “So Mitch, why didn’t you get D12?” or “Dude, why did you drop the ball on the Howard deal?”

Going after Dwight seems futile at this point because it’s clear he wants to join the Nets. If Mitch Kupcheck doesn’t throw every wild possible trade he can think of at Orlando “right now”….. he will face an onlaught of scrutiny, speculation, and questioning from the fanbase and LA reporters for years and years to come. It’s just the way it is…